Sinhala Grammar #21: Becoming

Ayubowan!

Welcome to the last lesson of the year! Today will be a short lesson about 

expressing things in a state of change. I think this is pretty relevant as we 

approach the new year. 

When trying to express these ideas, we must remember two things: the adjective 

and the verb. In both the present and the past tense, the adjective is used without the

 -yi sound at the end. 

As for the verb, there is venawaa when talking about a change happening in the

 present tense and and vuna in the past tense.

Let’s look at some example sentences.

Present Tense 

Mama nidimatha venawaa.

මම නිධිමත වෙනවා.

I am becoming sleepy.

The adjective in this sentence is nidhimathayi, but we removed the -yi  sound to 

create nidimatha.

E gasa ousa venawaa.

ඒ ගස උසය වෙනවා.

That tree is becoming  tall.

Past Tense

Mama iye asanipa vuna. 

මම ඊයේ අසනීප වුණා.

I became sick yesterday.

Oya mata vadaa  ousa  vuna. 

ඔය මට වඩා උසය වුණා.

You have become/gotten taller than me.

That’s all for this lesson! As always feel free to comment if you have any 

questions or remarks. Thank you for reading and look forward to another post

 on January 6th!

Sinhala Grammar #20: Expressing Feelings

 Ayubowan! Today we will be learning how to express our feelings in Sinhala.

The first thing we need to know is that when trying to explain our emotions

in Sinhala, we must use ‘mata’/මට. This may seem like a tricky thing to remember,

but try to think about it as if you are receiving the feelings. As we discussed in 

Lesson 2, ‘mata’ would be used if you were receiving something.

Here’s one of the examples from that lesson to refresh your memory:

Oyaa mata apple dhenawa. 

ඔයා  මට  ඇපල්  දෙන්වා. 

In this lesson, we will be receiving an emotion rather than an object:

Mata santhosai.

I am happy/ Literally:  Happiness to me,

 මට සන්තෝසායි.

Using the ‘ta’ sound at the end also applies to proper nouns:

Dilshanta badagni vuna.

Dilshan was hungry./ Literally: Hunger to Dilshan.

ඩිල්ෂන්ට බඩගිනි වුණා.

That is the only grammar you need to know for now! Below are a few more words

 you can use in everyday conversation.

Thibahayi	තිබහයි	Thirsty
Bada pirila	බඩ පිරිල	Full/ Not Hungry
Mahansiyi	මහන්සියි	Tired
Asanipa	අසනීප	Sick
Kalabalaya	කලබලය	Upset
Duka	දුක	Sad
Avadharaṇaya	අවධාරණය	Stressed
Viyakulayi	ව්යාකූලයි	Confused

That’s it for this lesson. Remember to tune in for the last lesson of the year next Monday.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them down below.

Thank you for reading!

Sinhala Grammar #19: Explaining and Event (When Statements) Part 2

Hello Everyone! This lesson is a continuation of the previous week’s lesson 

about expressing an event using ~when. Today, we will be talking about how

 to express events in the past and events in the negative.

Past Positive

The past positive is very similar to the present positive we learned in the last lesson.

There is also a suffix we add to the verb, by instead of kota, we use hama.

When I went to school, (I) saw/found my friend.

Mama iskole giyahama, mage yaluwa hammba wuna.   

මම ඉස්කෝලේ ගියහම, මගෙ  යාලුවා හම්බ වුනා.

In order to make this structure, all you would need to do is take the past tense of 

the verb and add hama to it.

When it rained (the rain came),  I used an umbrella.

Vassa avahama, mama kuḍayak paavichchi kara.

වැස්ස ආවහම මම කුඩයක් පාවිච්චි කරා.

Present Negative

In order to form this structure, you just need to take the -nne form and

add nathikota to the end.

When I don’t go to school, (I) can’t see my friends.

Mama eskole yanne naethikota, mage yaluwa hammba venne nae.

මම ඉස්කෝලේ යන්නේ නැතිකොට, මාගේ යාලුවා හම්බ වෙන්නේ නෑ.

When I don’t eat, I am hungry.

Mama kanne naethikota, mata badagini.

මම කෑවේ නැතිකොට, මට බඩගිනිය්.

I hope these example sentences were useful! Like always, feel 

free to leave any comments or questions in the comment section. 

See you in two weeks for the next lesson!

Sinhala Grammar #18: Explaining an Event (When Statements)

Hello Everyone! Today we will be learning how to express the cause-and-effect

relationship of an event using ‘when’ statements. Let’s look at a few examples to

understand the structure of the sentences.

When the baby cries, I wake up.

Baba andanakota, mama aeharanawaa.

බබා අන්දනකෝටා, මාමා ඇහරනවා.

The basic formula for this sentence structure is that we take the -waa form of the

verb, but remove the -awaa suffix from the verb. Then, the only thing we would

need to do is add -kota.

Now that we’ve seen this example, we can apply what we’ve learned to other situations.

When it rains, I use an umbrella.

Vahinakota, mama kuḍayak pavachi karanawaa.

වහිනකෝටා මම කුඩයක් පාවිච්චි කරනවා.

I study a lot when I have a test.

Mama vibhaagaya thiyenakota, godak padamkaranawaa.

මාමා විභාගය තියෙනකෝටා, ගොඩක් පාඩම්කරනවා.

Talking about events in the negative is a little different, 

so we will discuss it in part 2 next week.

That’s all for this lesson. Feel free to leave any comments 

and questions you may have. Make sure to check the blog next week

for a new lesson!

Thanks for reading!